Gaming method for playing a slot game with enhancement of player winning chances, and gaming apparatus for implementing the gaming method

ABSTRACT

A gaming method for playing a slot game includes the steps of: configuring a gaming apparatus to randomly generate a game symbol combination at the end of one round of the slot game, and to determine whether the game symbol combination conforms with a predetermined winning condition; and when the game symbol combination fails to conform with the predetermined winning condition, configuring the gaming apparatus to perform a symbol-changing procedure. The symbol-changing procedure includes: allowing a player to input a confirm command for changing a to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination; randomly changing the to-be-changed game symbol in response to the confirm command to result in a revised game symbol combination; determining whether the revised game symbol combination conforms with the predetermined winning condition; and granting an award to the player according to result of the determination.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 098126054, filed on Aug. 5, 2009.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a gaming method for playing a slot game, more particularly to a gaming method for playing a slot game with enhancement of player winning chances.

2. Description of the Related Art

Currently, most casinos are provided with slot machines. Since rules and gaming procedure of a slot game are quite simple, many casino guests prefer to play with the slot machines.

A conventional slot machine generates a game symbol combination at the end of one round of a slot game, and the game symbol combination is unchangeable once it has been generated. When the game symbol combination conforms with a predetermined winning condition, the conventional slot machine will grant an award to the player. However, when the game symbol combination fails to conform with the predetermined winning condition, the player has no chance to change the game symbol combination. Sometimes, it is unfortunate that the game symbol combination generated at the end of one round of the slot game almost conforms with the winning condition. Therefore, players may be interested in a slot game that provides an option to change the game symbol combination after the latter is generated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a gaming method for playing a slot game with enhancement of player winning chances.

Accordingly, a gaming method for playing a slot game of the present invention is adapted to be implemented using a gaming apparatus and comprises the steps of:

a) configuring the gaming apparatus to randomly generate a game symbol combination at the end of one round of the slot game, and to determine whether the game symbol combination thus generated conforms with a predetermined winning condition; and

b) when the game symbol combination generated in step a) fails to conform with the predetermined winning condition, configuring the gaming apparatus to perform a symbol-changing procedure, the symbol-changing procedure including the sub-steps of

-   -   b1) allowing a player to input a confirm command for changing a         to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination,     -   b2) randomly changing the to-be-changed game symbol in response         to the confirm command,     -   b3) determining whether a revised game symbol combination that         includes the game symbol changed in sub-step b2) conforms with         the predetermined winning condition, and     -   b4) granting an award to the player when the determination made         in sub-step b3) is affirmative.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a gaming apparatus configured to implement a gaming method for playing a slot game with enhancement of player winning chances.

According to another aspect, a gaming apparatus of the present invention comprises an input unit, a display unit, and a control unit. The input unit includes a confirm button. The control unit includes a storage medium storing program instructions for playing a slot game, and a processor coupled to the input unit, the display unit and the storage medium.

The processor is operable to execute the program instructions so as to randomly generate a game symbol combination at the end of one round of the slot game, control the display unit to display the game symbol combination generated by the processor, determine whether the game symbol combination generated by the processor conforms with a predetermined winning condition, and perform a symbol-changing procedure when the game symbol combination fails to conform with the predetermined winning condition.

The symbol-changing procedure includes the steps of:

i) allowing a player to input a confirm command for changing a to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination through the confirm button;

ii) randomly changing the to-be-changed game symbol in response to the confirm command;

iii) determining whether a revised game symbol combination that includes the game symbol changed in step ii) conforms with the predetermined winning condition; and

iv) granting an award to the player and controlling the display unit to notify the player of the grant of the award when the determination made in step iii) is affirmative.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of a gaming apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a gaming method for playing a slot game implemented by the gaming apparatus of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a symbol-changing procedure of the gaming method; and

FIGS. 5 to 8 are schematic diagrams illustrating gaming images displayed by a display unit of the gaming apparatus of the preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the preferred embodiment of a gaming apparatus 1 of the present invention includes a machine body 10, a control unit 2 disposed in the machine body 10, an input unit 3, and a display unit 4. The machine body 10 is provided with a payment mechanism, e.g., a coin slot 11 in this embodiment. The control unit 2 includes a processor 21 coupled to the input unit 3 and the display unit 4, a storage medium 22 coupled to the processor 21, and an accessible memory device 23 coupled to the processor 21. The input unit 3 includes a confirm button 31, a plurality of bet buttons 32 respectively representing different bet amounts, a select button 33, and a payment sensor 34 disposed adjacent to the coin slot 11. The payment sensor 34 is operable to generate a payment signal for the processor 21 when a player makes a payment through the coin slot 11.

In this embodiment, the display unit 4 is exemplified as a display screen mounted on a top portion of a front side of the machine body 10. In practice, the gaming apparatus 1 can further include a speaker for outputting audible sound, and additional buttons with other functions if desired. Since the feature of the present invention does not reside in these, further details thereof will be omitted herein for the sake of brevity.

In this embodiment, the storage medium 22 of the control unit 2 is a read-only memory (ROM) that stores program instructions for playing a slot game. The accessible memory device 23 is a random-access memory (RAM) adapted for storing data and information generated during the slot game. When the program instructions stored in the storage medium 22 are executed, the processor 21 is operable to perform consecutive steps of a gaming method for playing the slot game. Details of the gaming method will be described in the following.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, when the player makes an appropriate act, such as dropping enough coins or tokens through the coin slot 11, the processor 21 executes the program instructions and the slot game begins.

In step (S11), the processor 21 is operable to allow the player to determine a winning condition through the select button 33 and to place abet through the bet buttons 32. For example, in this embodiment, the winning condition is that game symbols in an upper payout line, a middle payout line or a lower payout line are the same symbol. The bet and the winning condition are stored in the accessible memory device 23, and the processor 21 controls the display unit 4 to display a gaming image as shown in FIG. 5.

In step (S12), the processor 21 is operable to allow the player to input a command for generating a game symbol combination through the confirm button 31, and controls the display unit 4 to display an animation image of rotating reels. Then, in step (S13), the processor 21 randomly generates a game symbol combination at the end of one round of the slot game, and controls the display unit 4 to display the game symbol combination as shown in FIG. 6. In this embodiment, the game symbol combination is, but not limited to, a 3×5 matrix with fifteen game symbols.

In step (S14), the processor 21 is operable to determine whether the game symbol combination thus generated conforms with the winning condition determined in step (S11). When the game symbol combination conforms with the winning condition, the processor 21 is operable to grant the player an award according to the bet placed by the player in step (S11), and controls the display unit 4 to notify the player of the grant of the award in step (S16). Then, the current round of the slot game is completed.

For the game symbol combination shown in FIG. 6, the game symbols in each of the upper, middle and lower payout lines are not all the same, i.e., the game symbol combination generated in step (S13) fails to conform with the winning condition. Then, the processor 21 is operable to determine whether the game symbol combination conforms with a predetermined symbol-changing condition in step (S15). The processor 21 is operable to perform a symbol-changing procedure when the game symbol combination conforms with the symbol-changing condition. Otherwise, the current round of the slot game is completed.

In this embodiment, the symbol-changing condition is that the game symbol combination generated in step (S13) has only one game symbol that differs from other ones in one of the upper, middle and lower payout lines of the game symbol combination, and this one game symbol can be selected as a to-be-changed game symbol that may be changed in the symbol-changing procedure. Using the game symbol combination shown in FIG. 6 as an example, the game symbol combination has only one game symbol “E” that differs from other game symbols “A” in the middle payout line. Thus, the game symbol combination shown in FIG. 6 conforms with the symbol-changing condition, and the game symbol “E” can be selected as the to-be-changed game symbol. The above information about the to-be-changed game symbol is stored in the accessible memory device 23. The following description is provided to describe the symbol-changing procedure in detail.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, the processor 21 controls the display unit 4 to display a gaming image as shown in FIG. 7 to notify the player that he/she can make an additional payment for changing the game symbol “E” in step (S21).

In step (S22), the processor 21 is operable to determine whether the player made the additional payment for changing the game symbol “E”. If the processor 21 does not receive the payment signal from the payment sensor 34 after a predetermined time period, i.e., the player did not make the additional payment, the current round of the slot game is completed.

When the processor 21 receives the payment signal from the payment sensor 34, the processor 21 is operable to allow the player to input a select command to select the to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination through the select button 33 in step (S23). Further, the processor 21 is operable to store a changing-chance value that indicates how many chances for changing the to-be-changed game symbol the player has in the accessible memory device 23, and controls the display unit 4 to show the changing-chance value at a corner thereof.

The player will have a predetermined number of chances for changing the to-be-changed game symbol after making the additional payment, and the number of chances is stored in the accessible memory device 23. In practice, it is possible to make more payment to have more chances for changing the to-be-changed game symbol.

In this embodiment, the game symbol combination as shown in FIG. 6 only has one game symbol that can be selected as the to-be-changed game symbol. It should be noted that, in practice, the game symbol combination may have more than one symbol that can be selected as the to-be-changed game symbol. The player can select the to-be-changed game symbol by himself/herself through the select button 33. Alternatively, the processor 21 can be configured to automatically select the to-be-changed game symbol in other embodiments.

After receipt of the select command, the processor 21 is operable to allow the player to input a confirm command for changing a to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination through the confirm button 31 in step (S24). Moreover, the processor 21 is operable to subtract one from the changing-chance value stored in the accessible memory device 23 in response to the confirm command. Then, in step (S25), the processor 21 controls the display unit 4 to display an animation image of changing the to-be-changed game symbol, and is operable to randomly change the to-be-changed game symbol in response to the confirm command. For the purpose of enhancing interest of the player in making the additional payment for changing the game symbol, probability that a revised game symbol combination including the game symbol changed in step (S25) conforms with the winning condition is relatively greater. That is to say, since the to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination shown in FIG. 6 needs changing to “A” for conforming with the winning condition, the probability of getting a revised game symbol “A” is relatively greater when the to-be-changed game symbol is changed. In practice, the probability of getting an appropriate game symbol for conforming with the winning condition is not limited to the design in this embodiment.

In step (S26), the processor 21 is operable to determine whether the revised game symbol combination that includes the game symbol changed in step (S25) conforms with the winning condition. In step (S27), the processor 21 is operable to grant the player an award according to the bet placed by the player in step (S11), and controls the display unit 4 to display a gaming image as shown in FIG. 8 to notify the player of the grant of the award when the revised game symbol combination conforms with the winning condition. Then, the flow goes to step (S28). When the revised game symbol combination fails to conform with the winning condition, the flow also goes to step (S28).

In step (S28), the processor 21 is operable to check whether the changing-chance value stored in the accessible memory device 23 is equal to 0. The current round of the slot game is completed when the changing-chance value is equal to 0. Otherwise, the flow goes to step (S29) to display a gaming image on the display unit 4 for notifying the player to select the to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination. Then, the flow goes back to step (S23). It should be noted that, although there is only one game symbol “E” in the game symbol combination shown in FIG. 6 that can be selected as the to-be-changed game symbol, the player is allowed to select other game symbols in the game symbol combination as the to-be-changed game symbol in practice, if the revised game symbol combination conforms with the winning condition and the changing-chance value is not equal to 0.

In sum, the present invention provides the gaming apparatus 1 implementing the gaming method for playing the slot game that allows the player to make the additional payment for changing the to-be-changed game symbol, such that the player has an additional opportunity to getting the award. Therefore, interest of the player in the slot game is further enhanced.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements. 

1. A gaming method for playing a slot game, said gaming method being adapted to be implemented using a gaming apparatus and comprising the steps of: a) configuring the gaming apparatus to randomly generate a game symbol combination at the end of one round of the slot game, and to determine whether the game symbol combination thus generated conforms with a predetermined winning condition; and b) when the game symbol combination generated in step a) fails to conform with the predetermined winning condition, configuring the gaming apparatus to perform a symbol-changing procedure, the symbol-changing procedure including the sub-steps of b1) allowing a player to input a confirm command for changing a to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination, b2) randomly changing the to-be-changed game symbol in response to the confirm command, b3) determining whether a revised game symbol combination that includes the game symbol changed in sub-step b2) conforms with the predetermined winning condition, and b4) granting an award to the player when the determination made in sub-step b3) is affirmative.
 2. The gaming method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in sub-step b1), the player is allowed to input the confirm command only after receipt of a payment signal.
 3. The gaming method as claimed in claim 2, wherein, in sub-step b1), the player is allowed to input the confirm command only after receipt of the payment signal and a select command to select the to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination.
 4. The gaming method as claimed in claim 3, wherein, in step b), the gaming apparatus is configured to perform the symbol-changing procedure repeatedly for a predetermined number of times.
 5. The gaming method as claimed in claim 2, wherein, in step b), the gaming apparatus is configured to perform the symbol-changing procedure repeatedly for a predetermined number of times.
 6. The gaming method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in sub-step b1), the player is allowed to input the confirm command only after receipt of a select command to select the to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination.
 7. The gaming method as claimed in claim 6, wherein, in step b), the gaming apparatus is configured to perform the symbol-changing procedure repeatedly for a predetermined number of times.
 8. The gaming method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in step b), the gaming apparatus is configured to perform the symbol-changing procedure repeatedly for a predetermined number of times.
 9. The gaming method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in step b), the gaming apparatus is configured to perform the symbol-changing procedure only after determining that the game symbol combination generated in step a) has only one game symbol that differs from other ones in a payout line of the game symbol combination.
 10. A computer program product comprising a machine readable storage medium having program instructions stored therein which when executed cause a system to perform consecutive steps of a gaming method for playing a slot game according to claim
 1. 11. A gaming apparatus comprising: an input unit including a confirm button; a display unit; and a control unit including a storage medium storing program instructions for playing a slot game, and a processor coupled to said input unit, said display unit and said storage medium; wherein said processor is operable to execute said program instructions so as to randomly generate a game symbol combination at the end of one round of the slot game, control said display unit to display the game symbol combination generated by said processor, determine whether the game symbol combination generated by said processor conforms with a predetermined winning condition, and perform a symbol-changing procedure when the game symbol combination fails to conform with the predetermined winning condition; wherein the symbol-changing procedure includes the steps of: i) allowing a player to input a confirm command for changing a to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination through said confirm button, ii) randomly changing the to-be-changed game symbol in response to the confirm command, iii) determining whether a revised game symbol combination that includes the game symbol changed in step ii) conforms with the predetermined winning condition, and iv) granting an award to the player and controlling said display unit to notify the player of the grant of the award when the determination made in step iii) is affirmative.
 12. The gaming apparatus as claimed in claim 11, further comprising a payment mechanism, said input unit further including a payment sensor operable to generate a payment signal for said processor when the player makes a payment through said payment mechanism, said processor being operable to allow the player to input the confirm command only after receipt of the payment signal.
 13. The gaming apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said input unit further includes a select button for input of a select command to select the to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination, said processor being operable to allow the player to input the confirm command only after receipt of the payment signal and the select command.
 14. The gaming apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein, for the game symbol combination that is generated at the end of one round of the slot game and that does not conform with the predetermined winning condition, said processor is operable to perform the symbol-changing procedure repeatedly for a predetermined number of times.
 15. The gaming apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein said input unit further includes a select button for input of a select command to select the to-be-changed game symbol in the game symbol combination, said processor being operable to allow the player to input the confirm command only after receipt of the select command.
 16. The gaming apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein, for the game symbol combination that is generated at the end of one round of the slot game and that does not conform with the predetermined winning condition, said processor is operable to perform the symbol-changing procedure repeatedly for a predetermined number of times.
 17. The gaming apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein, for the game symbol combination generated at the end of one round of the slot game that does not conform with the predetermined winning condition, said processor is operable to perform the symbol-changing procedure repeatedly for a predetermined number of times.
 18. The gaming apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein said processor is operable to perform the symbol-changing procedure only after determining that the game symbol combination generated thereby has only one game symbol that differs from other ones in a payout line of the game symbol combination. 